Should I pay upfront for the room from abroad?

knightstyle

Check the electorial roll to see who actually lives in the house?

marcela2

Fisa002 wrote: »

Weird as this may sound but can!!!8217;t you get her to email you the contract. You sign and then scan it back?

I have suggested it and she said she could do it when she gets back in few days but also mentioned that " Agreement only be valued once its singed." So I guess she means it won´t be legitimate unless there are both parties´ signatures on it. Also, I am wondering, how legitimate a scanned tenancy agreement and a signature would be?

marcela2

knightstyle wrote: »

Check the electorial roll to see who actually lives in the house?

I checked Land Registry and she is the owner of the property. As to who lives in the house, it is supposed to be 3 bedroom house and 2 bedrooms are available so I guess just her and her husband.

davidmcn

marcela2 wrote: »

I have suggested it and she said she could do it when she gets back in few days but also mentioned that " Agreement only be valued once its singed." So I guess she means it won´t be legitimate unless there are both parties´ signatures on it.

No, you could sign in counterpart i.e. just swap identical copies with each other's signatures. Can be emailed to you, printed, signed, couriered back to the UK, and vice versa.

marcela2

davidmcn wrote: »

No, you could sign in counterpart i.e. just swap identical copies with each other's signatures. Can be emailed to you, printed, signed, couriered back to the UK, and vice versa.

Thanks for a suggestion but I am not sure that I am quite following you. The contract exchange would still need to be made in person/post, right? She wants some deposit in advance but I am not keen on sending it to her unless I have a signed contract from her. I could end up with an emailed contract which I would print and sign..that´s only my ink signature there. I could also get a scanned and emailed contract with her signature on it but that would not be ink signature. And even if we both signed a copy of a printed contract, I don´t have the guarantee that she would be signing the exactly same contract like me and thus making it it a worthless piece of paper with my money on the way to someone whom I can´t prove signed the very same agreement. I hope I am making sense

davidmcn

marcela2 wrote: »

Thanks for a suggestion but I am not sure that I am quite following you. The contract exchange would still need to be made in person/post, right? She wants some deposit in advance but I am not keen on sending it to her unless I have a signed contract from her. I could end up with an emailed contract which I would print and sign..that´s only my ink signature there. I could also get a scanned and emailed contract with her signature on it but that would not be ink signature. And even if we both signed a copy of a printed contract, I don´t have the guarantee that she would be signing the exactly same contract like me and thus making it it a worthless piece of paper with my money on the way to someone whom I can´t prove signed the very same agreement. I hope I am making sense

Obviously, you don't give her money before the contract is signed.

saajan_12

marcela2 wrote: »

Thanks for a suggestion but I am not sure that I am quite following you. The contract exchange would still need to be made in person/post, right? She wants some deposit in advance but I am not keen on sending it to her unless I have a signed contract from her. I could end up with an emailed contract which I would print and sign..that´s only my ink signature there. I could also get a scanned and emailed contract with her signature on it but that would not be ink signature. And even if we both signed a copy of a printed contract, I don´t have the guarantee that she would be signing the exactly same contract like me and thus making it it a worthless piece of paper with my money on the way to someone whom I can´t prove signed the very same agreement. I hope I am making sense

A contract doesn't have to be a formal written and signed document, and ink signatures won't make a difference. Even a verbal contract is binding, just difficult to prove it exists / the terms in court. So, you need something with a record. An email specifying the agreed terms is plenty, ideally with a copy of her ID to prove who sent it. A contract signed by one party and emailed over to be printed and scanned by the other is more than enough for small claims court. Re the agreement, you wouldn't have any more security if you were in the country.

The only difference is you don't have the ability to view - do you have a trusted friend who can view and report back that it's not a dump? Or ask the LL to video chat and walk through the place. Atleast you can see the current condition, incase the photos are misleading.

marcela2

Comms69 wrote: »

then there is no obligation to protect the deposit.

Thanks, I have read a bit about sharing accommodation with a landlord and there was quite a bit about what a tenant should be aware of but nothing really about his rights. If the deposit is not protected by the government scheme, what is the guarantee that I will get it back? Should I also take photos of the room when we arrive or even ask her to do the inventory report? Shouldn´t one actually take photos of all the common areas just in case?
Having asked all these questions, it just brings back memories of one of my first landlords who didn´t want to return my deposit...based on nothing really, he just revealed what a nasty person really he was (he was not British, well, at least not born in Britain). Luckily I got help on a forum like this one and was told that my deposit should have been protected and as that wasn´t the case, I could´ve taken him to court. I wrote him a letter, he freaked out and I got my deposit back :P It makes me angry that I admired his house and how many other properties he owned and rented out and now I know he was the kind of guy who was ripping his tenants off and didn´t deserve any of what he had... One should go with his gut feeling right at the start.. That´s why I have been so wary ever since when it comes to dealing with private landlords and deposits or any money really and based on my only but a very positive experience, I prefer renting via agencies. Sadly, agency fees have gone up and I am not even sure they rent the rooms for few weeks only.